Springhill 1972, five killed when young soldiers ran out of control

Finally… the truth: A community that has fought for 54 years for answers is told their loved ones were innocent and killed by British Army soldiers who “lost control”

CONNLA YOUNG CRIME and SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, Irish News, May 1st, 2026

Members of the Springhill community in west Belfast release doves last night at a vigil close to where five people – Fr Noel Fitzpatrick, Patrick Butler, John Dougal, David McCafferty and Margaret Gargan – were shot dead by British army soldiers who “lost control” in July 1972. A coroner found the force used was not reasonable

THE brother of a Catholic child shot dead by the British army more than 50 years ago has called on the “British establishment” to apologise.

A coroner found yesterday that the force used by British soldiers who targeted the innocent victims, which included a priest, a father-of-six and three children, was not reasonable.

Fr Noel Fitzpatrick (42), Patrick Butler (38), John Dougal (16), David McCafferty (15), and Margaret Gargan (13) were shot dead in the Springhill/Westrock area of west Belfast in July 1972.

The inquest findings were delivered to a packed courtroom at the Laganside complex in Belfast yesterday by High Court judge David Schofield, who was sitting as a coroner.

A new inquest, which was ordered by former Attorney General John Larkin in 2014, was completed before the British government’s Legacy Act came into force in May 2024.

An earlier inquest, held in 1973, returned an open verdict.

Before yesterday’s hearing, relatives and supporters of the dead were met with applause as they arrived at court.

Speaking after the findings had been delivered, Harry Gargan, brother of Margaret, said his sister was the victim of a “clearly targeted kill”.

“The verdict of unjust killing will never end the decades of grief and trauma inflicted on our family,” he said.

“The truth of what happened to our beautiful sister Margaret was always what our late mother and father desired in search of a new inquest.”

The campaigning brother said the British establishment must now apologise.

“The British establishment need to recognise this verdict

‘Establishment’ urged to say sorry for British Army shootings of five innocent people

with the genuine heartfelt and unequivocal public apology for the decades of hurt and grief inflicted on all of our families.”

Jimmy Dougal, brother of John Dougal, demanded justice. “I would like some justice,” he said.

“We want justice and those soldiers to be brought to book for what they did.”

Mr Dougal said there were seven soldiers involved in the killings but their “identity” was “lost” by the Army.

Arch of Justice

Jacqueline Butler, daughter of Patrick, described her father as a “proud father-of-six”.

“He was deeply loved and missed every single day,” she said.

“Fifty four years ago my daddy was cruelly taken away from us.

“My mammy Margaret said the truth would never be told.

“Today we finished what she began.

“After a lifetime of fighting he was finally declared innocent.

“His only crime was his kindness, helping those who were injured .”

Pádraig Ó Muirigh, of Ó Muirigh Solicitors, who represented many of the families involved in the inquest, said: “It is often said the arch of history bends towards justice but it doesn’t bend by itself.

“Without the spirit of these families, the courage and determination of these families we would not be here today.”

He paid tribute to the determination of the victims’ families and local community.

“Two years from the last piece of evidence, 54 years from the incidents in question, these families have never stayed silent,” he said.

“They have never looked away.

“So, I have to commend them and I have to commend their community as well, who have stayed behind them and they are here to support them today.”

Mark Thompson of Relatives for Justice, who has supported the families, said: “They have borne unmerciful hardship and trauma.

“Their courage in the face of the British state’s impunity has been truly inspiring.”

Soldiers ‘lost control’ during fatal Springhill shootings, coroner rules

REBECCA BLACK and JONATHAN McCAMBRIDGE, Irish News and Belfast Telegraph, May 1st, 2026

A priest, a father-of-six and teenagers were ‘unarmed and posed no risk’ when they were killed

TWO soldiers “lost control” in the fatal shootings of five people in Belfast almost 54 years ago, a coroner has said.

The British Army soldiers did not use reasonable force in the shooting of a Catholic priest, a father-of-six and three teenagers in two areas of west Belfast on July 9 1972, the coroner ruled.

Mr Justice Scoffield said that Fr Noel Fitzpatrick (42), father-of-six Patrick Butler, (38), and teenagers David McCafferty and Margaret Gar-gan were unarmed and posed no risk when they were shot.

Families, friends and supporters of the five gathered at Belfast Coroner’s Court and applauded and hugged each other as the findings were read out.

The group included former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, Stormont Junior Minister Aisling Reilly, West Belfast MP Conor Maskey and People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll.

In his findings, Mr Justice Scoffield said Fr Fitzpatrick and Mr Butler were killed by the same bullet as the priest looked left and Mr Butler looked right as they attempted to cross the road from an alleyway.

Mr Butler was likely assisting the priest with those who had been injured and was the “most maligned” victim by false claims that he was an IRA gunman or a known terrorist, the coroner said.

OIRA Fianna member

David McCafferty (15) was seeking to retrieve the body of the priest when he was shot in the back.

The coroner said that while he was involved in the youth wing of the Official IRA, he was not engaged in any “activity” on that day and “should be viewed as an innocent” person.

A soldier who fired the shots that killed all three, known only as Soldier A, was less than 100 metres away at Corry’s Timber Yard.

The coroner concluded that the soldier “fired prematurely”, “lost control” and shot without having first made an assessment of the risk, if any, they posed.

He said he was satisfied that no warning was given, and that the three victims were not carrying any weapons.

He said even if the soldier believed he needed to use force to defend himself, the force used was not reasonable.

A soldier known only as Soldier E, who was located at the same woodyard as Soldier A, shot 13-yearold Margaret Gargan in the face while she stood on a pavement and spoke to friends, the coroner said.

The coroner referred to a statement given by Soldier E who described shooting a man around 20 years old described as 5ft 8in in height, and deemed this to be referring to shooting Ms Gargan as it was “very difficult” to know who else it could refer to.

He said it was possible the soldier mistook the risk the schoolgirl posed, and said Ms Gargan was frequently described as a “tomboy” and could be mistaken as a male youth.

He said her friends were not visible and she was on her hunkers beside the hedge in what could be taken as being in a position of concealment.

But he said was not convinced this explained the shooting of Ms Gargan, and said it was also possible the narrative was created after the event, when the soldier knew the individual posed no risk, and before giving an official statement.

He said the “later contention that she was an armed gunman was self serving”, and that the soldier had “sufficient time” to assess the actions and demeanour to assess the risk posed.

He said it was “more likely” the soldier fired “prematurely”, without making a proper assessment of the risk.

In the case of the other teenager, 16-year-old John Dougal, the coroner said he was unable to conclude whether he was armed when he was shot.

He said the teenager was a member of the junior wing of the Provisional IRA but said on balance he concluded he had not progressed into the ranks of the adult IRA.

The coroner said even if Mr Dougal had been in possession of a firearm, he was not using it and was likely running away when he was shot in the back.

He said: “With John Dougal shot in the back as he ran from the area and taking into account the requirements of the yellow card, the force used by Soldier A was not reasonable.”

He said that Soldier A, who shot Mr Dougal, Fr Fitzpatrick, Mr Butler and David McCafferty, and Soldier E, who shot Ms Gargan, had “overreacted and lost control”.

Mr Justice Scoffield rejected the explanation that the soldiers were reacting to a mass “coordinated” attack on Corry’s Timber Yard, where the soldiers were based, and said the brigade radio logs “hugely undermine” that narrative.

He said he also rejected the civilian case that “not one shot had been fired” by civilians before British Army soldiers began firing and said that was “much too simplistic an analysis”.

He said that while soldiers may have been influenced by civilian firing, they were not responding to “a coordinated attack by a mass of gunmen”.

He said the soldiers based in the woodyard had been apprehensive about the breakdown of an IRA ceasefire and had been “expecting an armed attack and were, no doubt, nervous and fearful of such a possibility”.

The responses of British and Irish Govts

The inquest concluded in April 2024, just hours before the former government’s guillotine on conflict-related court cases as part of new legacy laws coming into effect.

It was the last of the coronial investigations into Troubles-related deaths completed before the May 1 deadline of the Legacy Act, which is currently being reviewed under the Labour government.

It had been a fresh inquest ordered by Northern Ireland’s attorney general in 2014 after an original inquest in 1973 returned an open verdict.

Before reading out his findings, which number some 640 pages, Mr Justice Scoffield apologised to the families for the length of the wait, saying he had taken some time to consider matters.

Asked about the inquest findings that the soldiers had “overreacted”, Secretary of State Hilary Benn said he would need to read the full coroner’s report.

“I want to take this opportunity to express my profound condolences to the families of the terrible loss they suffered all those years ago,” he said speaking at Hillsborough Castle.

He said that there is a duty to ensure soldiers who served in Northern Ireland were “properly treated” and said further amendments would be made to the Legacy bill in the new session of the House of Commons.

He said legacy issues were “complex”, “difficult” and the “unfinished business” of the Good Friday Agreement.

“I think there is a consensus between us – this is the last chance we have and what’s come through today is we are absolutely determined to get this done and for each of us to play our part in fulfilling the commitments we made when that framework agreement (last September) was signed.”

The Republic’s Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee said the Springhill inquest findings “reminds us of the (long way) for truth and information that families have had to endure and the burden they’ve had to bear”.

“I’m thinking today of all of the families of those five people who lost their lives that day in 1972,” she said.

British soldiers ‘lost control’, inquest into five killings in Belfast finds

FREYA McCLEMENTS, Northern Editor, Irish Times, May 1st, 2025

None of the three teenagers, the priest nor the man in his 30s who were shot dead in July 1972 posed any threat, coroner rules

Five people, including three teenagers and a priest, were shot and killed by British soldiers who “lost control” in Belfast more than 50 years ago, a coroner has found.

Margaret Gargan (13), David McCafferty (15), John Dougal (16), Patrick Butler (37) and Fr Noel Fitzpatrick (42) were fatally wounded within minutes of each other in the Springhill and Westrock areas of west Belfast on the evening of July 9th, 1972.

Delivering his inquest into their deaths in the city yesterday, Judge David Scoffield ruled that none of the five was posing any threat when they were shot and the soldiers used force which was “not reasonable”.

Soldiers located in Corry’s Timber Yard on the Springfield Road, “in particular E and A . . . overreacted to a perceived threat and ultimately lost control”, he said.

The coroner ruled that Gargan, McCafferty, Butler and Fitzpatrick were “unarmed and posing no risk”, while Dougal was “shot in the back while running away”.

Each was killed by a single, aimed, high-velocity round, with the exception of Butler, who was fatally wounded by a bullet which passed through Fitzpatrick and then struck him. The coroner said a soldier known as Soldier A was responsible for four fatalities – Fitzpatrick, Butler, McCafferty and Dougal – and Soldier E for Gargan’s.

He criticised the UK ministry of defence over multiple missing documents, including the list which would have identified the soldiers, and said it was now “impossible to conclude what the true identity is of any of the soldiers, especially A and E”.

The coroner said he expected to refer the case to the North’s Director of Public Prosecutions – as is required when an offence may have been committed – but he said there was “little prospect of any prosecution”.

Speaking outside the court, relatives of the deceased spoke of their relief that their loved ones had finally been declared innocent, and there were calls for an apology from the UK government and for prosecutions of the soldiers responsible.

Burden of blame

“The burden of blame and prejudice that has lingered for so long has now been lifted, and the record has now been set straight,” said McCafferty’s sister Betty Kennedy.

Butler’s daughter Jackie said her father’s “only crime was his kindness, helping those who were injured, [and] for that he was wrongly labelled a gunman”.

A fresh inquest into the deaths was ordered by the North’s Attorney General in 2014, after an original inquest in 1973 returned an open verdict. It finished hearing evidence in April 2024, just hours before the cut-off introduced by the former UK government’s Legacy Act – which the current government is replacing with fresh legislation – ended all Troubles-era inquests.

The coroner took more than five hours yesterday to deliver a summary of his 640-page judgment to a packed courtroom.

He said the deaths had taken place against the backdrop of the breakdown of an IRA ceasefire on July 9th and “sporadic” shooting in the wider area, including around the British army post at Corry’s Timber Yard.

Triggered

Two cars – one or both of which may have been on “IRA business” – had stopped to “interact” with each other at the so-called “circle” area at Westrock Drive and “something triggered” the soldiers to begin firing at one of the cars.

The coroner said it was “unclear” what “precisely gave rise to the decision to commence firing”, but it was “likely” to have been influenced by a “high state of apprehension” among the soldiers due to the breakdown of the IRA ceasefire and the shooting dead of two of their number earlier that day.

The coroner wholly rejected claims by the ministry of defence that the soldiers had been under a “co-ordinated assault” on their position at Corry’s Timber Yard.

He apologised to the families of the deceased for the length of time that had passed since their loved ones’ deaths.

A spokesperson for the ministry of defence said it acknowledged the coroner’s findings and was “considering them carefully”.

'No criminality' involved around exhumed body in Lynskey search

ANDREW MADDEN, Belfast Telegraph, May 1st, 2026

REMAINS ORIGINALLY SUSPECTED TO BE DISAPPEARED VICTIM 100 YEARS OLD

Remains exhumed from a grave in Co Monaghan in late 2024 that were originally suspected to be those of a Disappeared victim have been identified, with “no criminality” involved in the case.

Joe Lynskey, a former Cistercian monk turned IRA intelligence officer from the Beechmount area of Belfast, was murdered and secretly buried by the IRA in 1972.

It is believed he was killed after being court martialled for ordering the shooting of a fellow IRA member — the husband of a woman with whom Mr Lynskey was having an affair.

The Disappeared are 17 people believed to have been killed and secretly buried by republican paramilitaries, mainly the IRA, during the Troubles.

In 1999, the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains (ICLVR) was set up to find the bodies of those secretly buried.

The remains of four of the Disappeared are still to be recovered: Joe Lynskey, Seamus Maguire, Columba McVeigh and British Army officer Captain Robert Nairac.

Acting on information it received in November 2024, the ICLVR carried out an exhumation at Annyalla Cemetery, between Monaghan town and Castleblayney.

The commission said it followed reports of suspicious activity at a grave in the cemetery around the time of Mr Lynskey's disappearance. The grave in question belonged to the family of the former Bishop of Ferns, Brendan Comiskey.

DNA tests were carried out on the remains that were exhumed, but these turned out not to belong to Mr Lynskey, or any remaining Disappeared victim. They also did not belong to any of the Comiskey family.

Following the news, Gardaí contacted the local coroner in a bid to identify the remains.

Sources have now confirmed to the Belfast Telegraph that they have since been identified as belonging to a member of another local family.

They had been buried around 100 years ago, unmarked and with no headstone, in land which was later purchased unknowingly by the Comiskey family as a family plot.

‘No criminality involved’

“There's no criminality involved in the case,” a source said.

“It seems to be one of those cases, going back so long, where church record-keeping wasn't as accurate as it is now.”

It is understood the remains have since been reburied in the local family's current plot.

Prior to the DNA tests, the Lynskey family were confident they would finally gain some closure and put their loved one to rest, even making preparations for a funeral, choosing an undertaker and considering who would deliver a reading at the service. November 2024 was not the first time the family had their hopes dashed.

Just a few months after Mr Lynskey was taken across the border by now-deceased IRA member Dolours Price to be killed, 17-year-old Kevin McKee and Seamus Wright (25) went missing from Belfast.

Accused of being informers, the pair were shot dead and secretly buried across the border.

In June 2015, the ICLVR was carrying out a search in bogland at Coghalstown, Co Meath, for Mr Lynskey after it received information.

Remains of two people were uncovered. But instead of finding Mr Lynskey, the ICLVR found Mr Wright and Mr McKee buried in the same makeshift grave.

In recent years, there have been searches for the remains of Mr McVeigh and Captain Nairac, but not Seamus Maguire, who was the most recent name to be added to the list of the Disappeared in February 2022.

The latest in a series of searches for Mr McVeigh, a teenager from Donaghmore, Co Tyrone, who was abducted and murdered by the IRA in 1975, concluded at Bragan Bog in Co Monaghan without success.

Captain Nairac was abducted from a pub car park in south Armagh and taken across the border to Ravensdale Forest, where he was interrogated and shot dead. His body was subsequently moved and secretly buried by the IRA in an unknown location.

A search for the soldier's body in Faughart near Dundalk ended in October 2024.

Mr Maguire (29), from Aghagallon near Lurgan, was killed and secretly buried in 1976.

It was initially thought he vanished around 1973/1974, however the ICLVR later established that, after spending time in Manchester, he returned to Northern Ireland and was killed and secretly buried in the Aghagallon/Derryclone area in 1976.

Remembering the past does not mean supporting violence today

CHRIS DONNELLY, Irish News, May 1st, 2026

LAST week, I visited the impressive ‘The Falls – Where the Troubles Began’ exhibit in the St Comgall’s – Ionad Eileen Howell building on Divis Street in west Belfast.

It outlines the growth of the working-class Catholic area since the 19th century, but the pre-eminent theme retells how it was at the epicentre of the turbulent 1960s and early 1970s period when the last conflict erupted in Ireland.

The RUC’s assault on Liam McMillan’s election office on Divis Street in 1964 to remove a tricolour (banned under the unionist regime’s draconian Flags and Emblems Act) is included, as well as civil rights marches.

The summer of 1969 features prominently, with eyewitness audio accounts sharing the experiences of local people. Videos show the burning of whole streets, with residents carrying pieces of furniture and other items they’d salvaged before fleeing their homes.

The RUC played a critical role in endeavouring to suppress the civil rights aspirations of nationalists.

In a handful of weeks in the summer of 1969, the RUC and B Specials killed seven Catholics across the north, including nine-year-old Patrick Rooney, killed in his family’s flat in Divis Tower. Needless to say, no RUC man served any prison time.

In April 1972, two young student teachers, Frank McGuinness and Patrick Magee, were shot by British soldiers as they walked by St Comgall’s Primary School. Magee was killed at the scene and McGuinness seriously wounded.

Paras hijacked ambulance

The ambulances carrying the men were hijacked by soldiers from the Parachute Regiment and directed to a loyalist mob on the Shankill Road, who attempted to overturn the vehicle carrying McGuinness. They subsequently attacked the second ambulance, dragging Patrick Magee’s body on to the street, an act of callous brutality.

A plaque was unveiled two weeks ago at the school to mark the murder of Patrick Magee, beside the still-visible bullet holes from the attack. No charges ever followed, never mind prison sentences.

Frank McGuinness recovered from his injuries and went on to serve as a teacher, prison chaplain, regional director of Trócaire, and Northern Ireland Human Rights Commissioner. He also married a wonderful woman in Geraldine, the most naturally gifted teacher I ever encountered and someone I was blessed to call a friend and mentor in the early years of my time in the profession. They raised children (now grown up) all imbued with the same sense of public vocation as their parents.

A dissident republican bomb exploded in a car outside Dunmurry PSNI station last week

There are, unfortunately, many more stories like that of Pat and Frank from our past.

Constitutional invocations of violent past

Last weekend’s dissident republican bomb was rightly condemned in an unequivocal manner by elected representatives from across society, not least Sinn Féin and the SDLP.

Instead of the disturbing development providing an occasion for a powerful and unified political voice to be heard, politicians from all three pro-union parties immediately used the bombing as part of their campaign to fight a war about narratives of our past.

In one of the most breathtaking examples of a politician showing a lack of self-awareness, DUP MP Carla Lockhart used a speech in the House of Commons on Tuesday to castigate a Sinn Féin MLA for delivering a “calculated insult to victims” by unequivocally condemning the bomb incident because of her father’s conviction in the past.

Applying that logic consistently would put Lockhart in the awkward position of having to similarly denounce her party’s deputy first minister for also speaking about the incident.

But consistency is neither desired nor sought by too many in this society.

Attempting to link commemorations and acts of remembrance of the past with acts of violence today could have profound implications for the continuance of RUC, UDR and loyalist commemorations, not to mention British remembrance events and the loyalist parading culture. Stripped back, all are founded upon a desire to mark (or ‘glorify’) events, organisations and individuals from the British, unionist and loyalist tradition.

The futility of consistency

Implicit in the attacks on Sinn Féin today, following the Dunmurry bombing, is the claim that engaging in reciprocal republican acts of remembrance somehow legitimises and gives succour to those now involved in violence.

Such an argument fails to recognise that violence in this society has invariably occurred when prevailing conditions led people to believe there was no other course of action.

People reach that conclusion, in Ireland and elsewhere, when the state’s very existence is a testament to the success of the threat of and actual violence; when the forces of the state function in a manner to preserve a privileged status upon a group and to discriminate against another group; when the purported forces of law and order function to implement discriminatory and sectarian policies and practices; when those very same forces of law and order reveal themselves to be inherently sectarian in outlook and in action; and when the forces of law and order directly kill and wound people from the community they regard as ‘the other’, doing so with impunity.

All of these features characterised Northern Ireland post-partition, not least during the summer of 1969.

That is not a society we recognise in 2026, why violence is not deemed acceptable to the vast majority of people living here today, and why such incidents are thankfully few and far between.

There are still thousands of active loyalist paramilitaries as well as a much smaller number of dissident republicans who retain a dangerous capacity to inflict violence.

But both groups are widely rejected, operating without the consent or support of the overwhelmingly majority of people precisely because, post-Good Friday Agreement, our society and its institutions have been transformed.

Change may drop slowly at times, but everyone of an age to remember the dark times owes it to the younger generations to ensure no quarter is given to fools wishing to return us to those days.

The New IRA: Can ‘a couple of guys with gas canisters’ change Northern Ireland?

Gerry Moriarty, Irish Times, May 1st, 2026

In recent days, in the wake of two New IRA attacks, more than one senior Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer grimly referred to the old phrase of how the republican paramilitaries “only have to be lucky once” to make a deadly impact.

The New IRA, despite its failed bomb attack in Lurgan over a month ago and the exploded car bomb outside the Dunmurry PSNI station on the outskirts of south Belfast last Saturday, is in bad order but still it can demonstrate, to use another well-worn phrase: it hasn’t gone away, you know.

The Dunmurry explosion made headlines in Belfast, Dublin and London, and once again illustrated that Northern Ireland still has a ways to go to become a normal society. Indeed, the headlines could have been starker.

Most people know that the “lucky once” reference is to the 1984 Provisional IRA Brighton bombing that killed five people and narrowly failed in its intent to murder the British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher.

“Today we were unlucky, but remember we have only to be lucky once, you will have to be lucky always,” the IRA responded to the prime minister’s survival.

The PSNI this week released body-camera footage of one of its officers, who was evacuating people from the danger zone, approaching the car just as the bomb exploded. Had he been a few metres closer to the vehicle, he could have been badly injured or worse. He was one of the “lucky” ones.

The PSNI released mobile phone footage of a car exploding outside of Dunmurry police station in west Belfast.

The New IRA lapped up the publicity. It followed up with an admission of responsibility to the Irish News saying its intention was to kill police officers as they were leaving the station. It said it would start to target police officers in their homes while boasting: “We have plenty of Semtex and plenty of engineers, and we know where they live. We are well aware they are working to an MI5 agenda.”

It also warned that “anyone collaborating with British crown forces . . . will be severely dealt with”.

But it seems clear it has a number of collaborators in its own ranks judging by the successes of the PSNI, MI5 and the Garda in targeting the New IRA. That undermining of the organisation is down to policing and intelligence work but also due to what informed sources say is heavy infiltration of the New IRA.

NIRA prisoners

Currently, there are 14 people in the dissident wing of Maghaberry Prison in the North and five in Portlaoise. Moreover, three Derry men are awaiting a reserved judgment over the 2019 New IRA murder of journalist Lyra McKee while six others face charges over rioting on the night she was shot dead.

Four other men, three of them from Derry, including one of the New IRA’s suspected leaders, Thomas Ashe Mellon, also face a reserved judgment over charges linked to a dissident Easter commemoration in Derry in 2023.

Six years ago, in a case that is still making its way through the legal system, 10 New IRA suspects were arrested and faced a range of charges from directing terrorism to preparing “acts of terrorism”. This was part of Operation Arbacia run by the PSNI and MI5.

At the time the, crime operations PSNI assistant chief constable Barbara Gray said the arrests were “part of a significant and carefully planned operation” that also involved “partners such as MI5, Police Scotland, An Garda Síochána and the Metropolitan Police Service”.

Another example of the weakening of the New IRA was the relatively low turnout and the small colour party at its recent Easter commemoration parade in Derry.

The last major operation by the New IRA, as per its own standards, was the shooting in front of his son of off-duty senior PSNI officer John Caldwell in Omagh in February 2023. He suffered severe injuries but survived. But even here the New IRA allegedly had to link up with other criminals including some from a loyalist background to carry out that shooting.

MI5 seems convinced the New IRA is under the cosh. The London Times reported this week how, curiously, MI5 sent suspected New IRA members a video of articles from the Belfast Sunday Life about how the PSNI was cracking down on the organisation and how it was implicated in general criminality.

Loan sharks and drug dealers

Some of the articles linked the New IRA to “loan sharks” and drug dealers. MI5 also asked the recipients did they feel they were being exploited.

“I doubt your ‘leadership’ are thinking about you taking the risks when they are on multiple holidays a year,” it stated, adding: “It’s 2025, is this the activity you want done in your name? There are better paths to take.”

The New IRA was formed in 2012, comprising members of the Real IRA, Republican Action Against Drugs and a number of independent republicans. Derry, Lurgan, parts of Fermanagh, Tyrone and west Belfast were its relative strongholds but it’s not strong now, according to PSNI sources.

It carried out a number of murders including some arising from internal and criminal feuding. It murdered two prison officers: David Black (52), who was shot dead as he drove to work in Maghaberry Prison in Co Armagh in 2012, and Adrian Ismay, who died 11 days after a bomb exploded under his van in Belfast in 2016.

Before its formation some of its members were believed to have been involved in the 2011 murder of PSNI officer Ronan Kerr in Omagh and, two years earlier in Antrim, in the murders of British soldiers Patrick Azimkar and Mark Quinsey outside Massereene Barracks.

It has targeted other PSNI officers in gun and attempted under-car booby trap bomb attacks. It also has carried out so-called “punishment” attacks.

But although there is little doubt that the New IRA is diminished, there is no escaping the dread “lucky once” concept. As police sources confirm, “it does not have significant numbers” but yet it is still dangerous.

Jonny Byrne, a lecturer in criminology at Ulster University, noted how with little resources and reduced numbers the New IRA could still make an impact, heightening security and making sure police officers “will be more vigilant in checking under their cars”.

The Hormuz factor

The group’s actions also could deter young people, particularly underrepresented Catholics, from joining the police.

“Someone put it to me like this: ‘It’s like the Strait of Hormuz, Iran with a couple of mines can completely block the world’s economy while a couple of guys with some gas canisters can completely change the narrative of Northern Ireland’,” Byrne said.

PSNI assistant chief constable Davy Beck, appealing for public patience and support, said there would be an “increase in policing activity as a high visibility policing operation gets under way to counter the ongoing dissident threat”.

Ulster University’s Byrne said it was important the PSNI got the balance right in its response.

“The New IRA wants a disproportionate reaction,” he said.

“They want more stop and search, more police patrols, more securitisation of the PSNI, increased house searches, they want to recreate the conflict imagery of the 1980s and 1990s. The question is: what do we do – do we retrench or continue with normalisation?”

While the police, politicians and public consider this question, he said people must realise that no matter “how scaled down” the New IRA was, there always would be dissidents married to the idea of the “long war” and prepared to “carry the flame” of violent republicanism from one generation to the next, regardless of the contrary views of the overwhelming mass of the population.

First Minister's Dunmurry 'terror' comment prompts questions over PIRA attacks

By David Thompson, Belfast News Letter, May 1st, 2026

Comments by Michelle O’Neill in which she described the weekend bomb attack on a police station as “terror” has led to unionist calls for the Sinn Fein leader to condemn Provisional IRA violence in the past.

The Ulster Unionist leader accused Sinn Fein of having a “selective memory” – highlighting similar attacks carried out by the Provisional IRA, an organisation the republican party “supported and celebrated for decades”.

DUP MLA Jonathan Buckley welcomed the First Minister’s use of the word terror, but said she must be consistent – citing an IRA attack in the area linked to hunger striker Bobby Sands.

The first minister said on Wednesday that there is no question about her party’s support for policing – accusing the DUP of “spoofing” on the issue. Ms O’Neill told reporters that the “clear and consistent message should have been heard across all of the political spectrum. They said no to the people who went and took that terror to the people of Dunmurry on Saturday night”.

Jon Burrows said: “If this car bomb caused terror today, and it did, then what does she say to every family across NI who lived through hundreds of car bombs carried out by the organisation her party supported and celebrated for decades? The outrage is welcome. The selective memory and mixed messaging is not. Until you are part of the solution you are part of the problem.”

He said SF has “dragged their heels on supporting policing” – which he said had corroded police morale and “their community’s trust in policing”.

Mr Buckley said Michelle O’Neill is right to say that those responsible for the bomb in Dunmurry brought ‘terror’ to the streets of that community, but that standard “must be applied consistently”.

“In 1976, another bomb was planted in Dunmurry and Bobby Sands was linked to that attack. If planting a bomb in Dunmurry in 2026 is terrorism, then planting a bomb in Dunmurry in 1976 was also terrorism. The question for Michelle O’Neill is straightforward, does she recognise that Bobby Sands was involved in an act of terror? Republicans cannot continue with this selective morality where today’s bombers are condemned, but yesterday’s bombers are glorified”.

Councillor seeks alternative location for 'asbestos bonfire' as organisers vow to 'go bigger'

ABDULLAH SABRI, Belfast Telegraph, May 1st, 2026

A councillor has urged those behind a planned bonfire in south Belfast on land contaminated with asbestos to find an alternative location.

The Alliance Party's group leader, Michael Long, said the site poses a health risk and suggested that there are several other grounds it could be placed on “for the sake of a couple of years”.

Mr Long was speaking after a special Strategic, Policy and Resources (SPR) committee convened yesterday to provide an update on the site located in the Village area.

It comes after the Village bonfire South Belfast Facebook page vowed that “we're going bigger” this year, as the gate blocking the privately owned land was removed.

The land is close to an electricity substation that services the Royal and City hospitals as well as a primary school.

It was at the centre of a political controversy last year with the PSNI declaring a major incident over the removal of the materials.

In the days before the Eleventh Night, Belfast City Council agreed to have contractors move in to remove the bonfire.

However, these plans were aborted when the PSNI said it would not assist and the pyre was ultimately lit.

As the pallets begin to pile up for this year's bonfire, Mr Long said that until the asbestos is removed “this is not a location that is ever going to be suitable”.

Owners’ liability

Speaking after the SPR committee, he said: “The only solution at this location is not to have a bonfire in the current state of things. And today I reiterated that is the way forward and I do think there's a general realisation that site can't be secured very easily.

“Therefore, regardless of what you try and do, the only way really to get around this would be to have the bonfire at a different location.

“I certainly think other political parties or reps it would be useful for them to do that and certainly I would be happy to work with communities to try and see how we get a positive solution.”

The Village bonfire Facebook page has appealed to people to bring wood, beds, doors, sofas, wardrobes and pallets to the site, specifically through the Maldon Street entrance.

Organisers have now been able to access the land after leaving an opening wide enough even for vehicles to pass through. It is unclear exactly when the gates were removed or who did it.

Mr Long continued: “I think at the minute it's just it's trying to see how we send that message that this is not a location that is ever going to be suitable until that asbestos is all removed, and there's no potential of that happening in the short term.

“So I think the council are just looking at what measures we can just to kind of reinforce that message that you know this is not a safe site.”

Earlier this month, a spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs said: “Minister Muir would again urge local elected representatives to provide the leadership needed to ensure everyone obeys the law and heeds the warnings issued to keep people off the site.

“Remediation and ongoing site security remain the responsibility of the landowner. NIEA has engaged the landowner throughout the remediation process including on the issues of access to the site and signage.”

Mourne wildfires 'like watching my house and livelihood burn', says outdoor adventure firm boss

CLAIRE DICKSON, Belfast Telegraph, May 1st, 2026

A man who owns an outdoor activity company based in the Mourne Mountains has said watching the destruction caused by recent wildfires is like “watching my house and livelihood burn”.

Dozens of firefighters have spent the past week battling blazes on the mountains, with a number of the fires having already been determined to have been started deliberately.

Robbie Marsh from Kilkeel owns Mourne Mountain Adventures, a family-run outdoor activity company which organises hiking expeditions and camping trips for groups.

However, in the wake of the fires, some of these events are having to be cancelled, leaving his livelihood potentially at stake.

“We were supposed to have people coming off a cruise liner tomorrow to go up the mountains but have had to phone them to cancel their trip last minute,” he told the Belfast Telegraph.

“The burden is on us as a business when we cancel, and it has a financial impact as we have to absorb the cancellation cost.”

The 50-year-old described the Mournes as having so much opportunity, with the scenic beauty spot having also been used in blockbuster films such as How To Train Your Dragon.

Robbie said that due to the wildfires putting so much pressure on emergency services already, it would be unsafe for his company to press on with their work.

“The firefighters have been working tirelessly all week so I've cancelled all my hikes this weekend,” he added.

Natural amenities and TikTok

While Robbie sees these fires happening year after year, he insists social media has had a real impact this time.

“I've seen videos on TikTok with people leaving comments saying they started the fires and this seems like a completely new wave of destruction.”

He is also hugely frustrated by what he sees as a lack of education surrounding the actual scale of the damage the fires can cause.

Living at the foot of the Mournes, he said one of the most concerning things is the amount of heather being stripped off the mountains every year as a result of fires.

“Heather is really the life and soul of the Mournes as it attracts wildlife and I have tourists asking me where all the animals are. We've maybe seen the destruction of around 50% of heather on the Mournes,” he added.

“I bring people to the Mournes from all over the world, everyone needs to work towards a common goal to protect them.”

Yesterday the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service said they tackled blazes in Hilltown, Newcastle and Crossmaglen, confirming they're now under control.

They said around 45 firefighters responded to a blaze at Chimney Rock Mountain in Newcastle that was 600 metres wide at its peak.

There have also been significant blazes across other parts of Northern Ireland, including a major blaze in Co Fermanagh.

Ten fire appliances were called to reports of a blaze close to the Carrickyheenan Road in Brookeborough shortly after 1pm on Thursday.

NIFRS confirmed yesterday fire crews also continued to deal with an ongoing wildfire in Dungiven, as they confirmed 30 firefighters remained at the scene at Polly's Brae Road.

‘We wanted an excuse to say ‘f*** Keir Starmer’

DAVID ROY, Irish News, May 1st, 2026

Kneecap’s Mo Chara on ‘Troubles for Dummies’, takes us inside every song on trio’s new album, FENIAN, released today

“IT’S about reclaiming our culture and identity,” explains Kneecap rapper Mo Chara of why the Belfast trio have titled their new record FE-NIAN.

“Reclaiming that word is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s about how we’re making art for ourselves now instead of art that’s palatable for Americans.

“I think people respect that. The fact that we’ve been able to do what we do all around the non-Irish speaking world is testament to people yearning for music that’s a bit more about ourselves and where we’re from rather than something that’s palatable, brushed-over and generic.”

Released today on Heavenly Records, the follow-up to 2024’s Fine Art finds Kneecap – Mo Chara (Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh), Móglaí Bap (Naoise Ó Cairealláin) and DJ Próvaí (JJ Ó Dochartaigh) – continuing their hybrid Irish/English musical journey with an album that is darker and heavier in tone.

Several of the Dan Carey-produced record’s 14 tracks reference Kneecap’s recent legal battle with the British government, which saw a terror charge against Mo Chara thrown out of court.

“We knew we were going to talk about it at some point,” he tells me, “and the album itself is in some way a response to a lot of it.

“I think it’s just one of them ones where you sit down to write and you’re like, ‘Right? What the f*** am I going to write about? Oh yeah, I’ve got court in two weeks’.”

With that in mind, let’s delve deeper into the songs on FENIAN…

1) Eire go Deo

This ambient, rather ominous album opener is built around snippets of spoken-word Irish and a sample of Co Fermanagh artist Rois’s beguiling vocals.

“It’s like an ode to the people that came before us, basically,” says Mo Chara.

“[Móglaí Bap’s] parents are in there, and other people that did quite a lot of work for the Irish language.

“We’re starting the album off by saying what you’re about to hear would have been impossible if it wasn’t for these people and the sacrifices they made.”

2) Smugglers and Scholars

The album’s lead single finds the band aggressively addressing/correcting Irish stereotypes over a vintage Clavioline synth-propelled musical backing.

Kneecap will perform in Belfast at the AVA Festival this summer

“It’s obviously about how Ireland’s not all fiddle-lee-dee and dancing around bowls of stew like Americans would like to believe, like in that f***ing Lindsay Lohan film,” advises Mo Chara.

“Like I say [in the song], ‘you think it’s all poetry and clovers when it’s all raincoats and police Land Rovers’. There’s a big history of violence and sacrifice here.

“But there’s also that history of intellects, scholars and the best poets in the world – which is ironic, because the stereotype about Irish people is that we’re all stupid.”

3) Carnival

A song about how the recent terror case against Mo Chara provided a convenient distraction from the real terror being perpetrated in Gaza, which turns the chants of “Free Free Mo Chara” heard outside court into a catchy chorus.

“Whether we liked it or not, we became part of the ‘carnival of distraction’,” he explains.

“Every minute they spent talking about us on the news was another minute not spent talking about Gaza.”

4) Palestine feat. Fawzi

“We have a shared history with certain people around the world,” explains Mo Chara of a track on which Kneecap trade Irish verses with Ramellah-based artist Fawzi, who raps in Arabic.

“We’ve spent a lot of time talking about Palestine, but we thought it was important that there was an actual Palestinian voice on the album too – and Fawzi is unbelievable.”

5) Liars Tale

This snarling lyrical take-down of British political leaders from Thatcher to Starmer is built around a fuzzy synth line which apes glam rock guitar riffs, and buoyed by a Basement Jaxx-esque rhythmic bounce.

“I think this one was written just after the court case, where Keir Starmer was trying to get us taken off the line-up at Glastonbury,” recalls Mo Chara.

“We wanted a bit more of a punky kind of vibe – and an excuse to say ‘f*** Keir Starmer’ on a song, basically.”

6) FENIAN

The album’s title track carries a dirty, funky vibe, turning every loyalists’ favourite slur into a chant of empowerment.

“We wanted one that was a bit more of an upbeat kind of party tune,” explains Mo Chara

“I’m pretty sure it was Móglaí or Dan or someone had the idea for the shouty chorus and then it just kind of went from there.

“Once we had that, we knew we were on for a single.”

7) Big Bad Mo

Another fast and frantic tune with a musical nod to Kariya’s club banger Let Me Love You For Tonight and lyrics paying homage to hedonism.

“That was another one we wrote to be a banger,” says Mo Chara.

“I was trying to think of something [lyrically] to get me going. When got that first line of ‘Big Bad

Mo’, I thought, I’ll not refuse the muse here and just see where it goes.

“It’s not a very in-depth, intellectual tune.”

8) Headcase

A chaotic and catchy drum ‘n’ bassbased ode to some of Belfast’s tragicomic substance-addled ‘characters’ of the past.

“You don’t really see the local alcoholics so much anymore that we used to bump into when we were kids running about,” reflects Mo Chara.

“They’re almost a dying breed now.”

The song is also something of a cautionary tale.

“A few mistakes can lead someone down a path that’s almost impossible to come back from,” he says.

9) An Ra

This Happy Mondays-esque funky number opens with an ironic blast of Rule Britannia before paying mock tribute to the land of Brexit, Britain’s Got Talent, Jimmy Savile and Oliver Cromwell.

“It’s a fake love letter to the United Kingdom for all the amazing things they’ve done for us and how much we’re going to miss all the incredible things they civilised us with,” explains Mo Chara.

“ I think it’s just one of them ones where you sit down to write and you’re like, ‘Right? What the f*** am I going to write about? Oh yeah, I’ve got court in two weeks’

Mo Chara

10) Cold at The Top

“We’re playing the insufferable bastard versions of ourselves that we could be,” laughs Mo Chara of this moody, mid-tempo spoof of name-droppers who’ve let fame go to their heads.

“But you just can’t get on like that here – you’d be humbled right and quick. It’s also about the insufferable famous c***s we’ve met along the way who kind of don’t realise just how full of shit they are.”

11) Occupied 6

This dub-tinged tune finds Kneecap digging into the generational trauma of the Troubles for lyrical inspiration.

“It’s like our comical f***ing take on it, like Kneecap’s The Troubles For Dummies,” says Mo Chara.

“It’s got a bit more of a political side to it, I suppose, and it’s drawing on experiences we’ve heard through family and other people.

“It was actually wrote for the album that we scrapped at the start of last year, but when we recorded it with Dan it kind of re-sparked what I loved about the song.”

Kneecap on the streets of Belfast

12) Gaelphonics

Need to conduct some shady business in public while maintaining privacy? Try speaking under the cover of Irish.

“Our song Incognito was about the same kind of thing,” explains Mo Chara.

“We enjoyed writing that so we decided to do volume two, especially now that there’s more eyes on us who probably haven’t even heard Incognito.”

13) Cocaine Hill feat. Radie Peat

Despite the drug references in the lyrics and title, it seems the original idea for this one was more benign than its title would suggest.

“It’s actually about how I’m not great at being able to fall asleep rather than any illicit substances,” confesses Mo Chara of a song which takes inspiration from John Martyn’s version of the blues number Cocain and features guest vocals from Lankum’s Radie Peat.

14) Irish Goodbye feat. Kae Tempest

FENIAN ends on a heartfelt note with this song on which Móglaí Bap pays tribute to his late mother, who died by suicide in October 2020, with the aid of a guest appearance by poet/ rapper Kae Tempest.

“I wasn’t in the studio when he recorded this,” recalls Mo Chara.

“I came in the next day and Dan was like ‘you need to hear this’. It was f***ing unbelievable.

“It’s just a great song, and the perfect ending for the album. There’s a lot of serious political stuff and piss-takey tunes on there, whereas this one is a bit more heartfelt and true.”

FENIAN is out now via Heavenly Records. Kneecap play the AVA Festival in Belfast on May 30, see avafestival.com for tickets

Family of prisoner shot dead trying to escape from Long Kesh camp wins 'significant settlement'

By Alan Erwin, Belfast News Letter, April 30th, 2026

​​The family of a Co Tyrone man shot dead by a British soldier while trying to escape from the Long Kesh internment camp have secured a “significant settlement” in their claim for damages, it was announced today.

Hugh Gerard Coney, 24, was killed during the bid to break out of the compound along with other republican detainees back in November 1974.

His relatives pursued a civil action against the Ministry of Defence after an inquest found he had been unarmed when shot in the back.

The High Court was told today that the case has now been settled on confidential terms.

It is understood the resolution involves no admission of liability by the defendant.

But outside court the family’s solicitor, Padraig O Muirigh, said: “I can confirm that the settlement is significant and our client is satisfied with the outcome of this litigation.”

Mr Coney, from Clonoe near Coalisland, was part of a group of republicans interned without trial who took part in the attempt to escape from Long Kesh in Co Antrim.

He had used a tunnel and was running across a field close to the perimeter fence of the prison camp when he was shot.

In 2024 an inquest jury found that no verbal warning had been given to him before the fatal shot was fired.

Mr Coney’s family sued the Ministry of Defence over the alleged unlawful circumstances surrounding his death.

Their barrister, Des Fahy KC, told the court that an undisclosed resolution had been reached, which includes the plaintiff’s legal costs.

“That marks the conclusion of these proceedings,” counsel added.

Speaking later, Mr O Muirigh welcomed the outcome.

He said: “The Coney family have fought tirelessly for over 50 years to expose the circumstances of the death of Hugh Gerard Coney through these proceedings and the related inquest.” e